Flying Turkeys- Madye Moore

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays by far, mostly because of the fact that it doesn't revolve around getting presents, it's just about being with all of your family and actually getting to spend time together. Thanksgiving in my family is one of the only times of the year that most of our family is together, which is the main reason I look forward to it every year (besides the food of course). Thanksgiving at my house is pretty typical you could say, everyone goes over to my aunts house around 3 (after we've watched the Macy's Parade and finished up with all of the cooking), where we end up having way more food than needed but end up eating the majority of it anyways, and the night normally ends with a Nerf gun war between all of the boys or a "friendly family competition" which of course doesn't end up friendly whatsoever! I would say that's been our tradition since I was born but that wouldn't be the truth. A lot of things have changed with Thanksgiving over the past couple years: we went to Florida 2 years ago (but we decided we wouldn't do it again because of the fact that it definitely didn't seem like Thanksgiving without all of our family there), my grandfather quit coming because it's "too far" for him to travel by himself, and my cousin was born, causing my aunt and uncle to not be able to come 2 of the past 3 years. But despite all of the mix-ups, we still manage to have a great Thanksgiving, because it doesn't really matter as long as you have family there with you! My most wonderful memory of Thanksgiving was 10 years ago, the last Thanksgiving that my Nana was at, and in my opinion was the last Thanksgiving that our family was whole. I was 6 at the time, but I still remember it like it was yesterday. My sister was 3, my brother was 8 months old, neither of my older cousins had kids like they do now, and Nana was still alive and well. We were all at my aunts house, and of course we had all the food we could imagine! We had a great day of course, joking and playing around like usual. The one thing I remember most though, was toward the end of the night, before Merrick hit the wall and Mason started wailing, we managed to get a family picture with everyone in it. I found that picture the other night and it just reminded me of that day once again, and how I would do absolutely anything to get that day back.Thanksgiving is still very much a family thing at our house, it just will never be the same again.